Lovely Cadiz

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Bloggo Historico/Hysterico: A Fractured History of the Theatre via Gaffs, Misunderstandings and Muck-Ups in roughly chronological order Part 4

This is the last of four posts on a very wacky and admittedly incomplete history of theatre, via the errors my own students made on exams. If you're joining these posts somewhere after the first one, you might want to have a look at that, as I explain a little about what I'm doing in it -- it's been fun for me -- I hope you'll all enjoy as well!

THE MODERN MOVEMENT:

Wagner’s total work of art is called
Gerstakven.

(well, not too far off from Gesamtkunstwerk)

ON HENRIK IBSEN AND AUGUST STRINDBERG

Ibsen and Strindberg both started
out with a little romance. Later each man found the -isms that would make
them famous.

Ibsen and Strindberg both ended up
going from realism to abstract surrealism. I can’t recall any names of
the surrealist work either of them wrote, but I’m sure they were very well
written.

Ibsen and Strindberg began their
illustious careers in the rhelm of realism.

Ibsen

Henry Ibsen is to this day
considered the god of realism.

Hernia Ibsen wrote realistic plays.

Ibsen worked magic in a former
life. This man loathed Shakespeare (I believe) and became a very serious
realistic playwright. By serious I mean it took him two years to perfect
a play.

Ibsen’s verse drama usually dealt
with mythological and historical plays in which the hero was also the villain.

An early verse drama of Ibsen is
Pear Gynt.

An example of Ibsen is Hedda
Gabbler.

Henrik Ibsen wrote The Ghost.

Ibsen’s symbolist work was The
Master Carpenter.

Ibsen tried symbolism with a duck
play.

Ibsen’s works eventually began to
show symbolism, such as Duck’s Wings.

(I don’t have to tell you - but I shall - that in this entry and
that before it the student was reaching for The
Wild Duck)

An example of a symbolism play by
Ibsen is Saint Joan.

(there were many variations on the name August Strindberg. Below
are a few):

Stringberg wrote about himself,
a creature that crawled amongst the world, between heaven and earth.

Strindberg began writing in a
naturalistic style, then had a religious breakthru and began writing
religious mysteries. He implemented the use of “found places,”
warehouses, abandoned buildings, places besides theatres to perform. He
won three Pulitzer Prizes for his work.
(???)

Strindberg was a playwright from
Sweden. He hated Ibsen. He wrote about himself. He began writing in
a more romanticism style but moved to the more realistic. He loved his
mother and had three wives. He wrote dream plays dealing with ideas that
were not real.

Strindberg wrote the play Aunt Julie.

This is Aunt Julie

And this is Miss JulieActuall, After Miss Julie by Patrick Marberwith Jonny Lee Miller and Sienna Miller

Strindberg wrote plays like Saint
Joan.

Strindberg has a very torched soul
feel to his plays.

Strindberg wrote of mental illness,
unhappy marriages, childhood, and others of the such.

ON APPIA AND CRAIG, AND SUGGESTION;

Suggestion would mean making use of
symbols in a set design to imply something greater, for example, a
bathroom to represent a sea or ocean.

Suggestion basically suggested something was there instead of making it boldly obvious and real. An
example would be instead of using a pool onstage they would put a tub of water
to suggest that the pool was there.

(could the above two students have been in the same study group?
Or sitting next to each other during the exam?)

Appia set out to rally against the
old way of design by imitating

photographic scenery. (???) Him and Craig were both for
the antirealistic way, or suggestion, in which scenery could be made.

design by Appia

Both Appia and Craig attacked
realism and wanted to get rid of it -- as soon as possible.

Appia used 3-D sets and no pictures.

Appia put 3-D objects on flats and
shudders.

Throughout his career Appia
experimented with wagon operas.

(there may be such things as wagon operas, but I think the student
meant Wagner’s operas)

Appia used realistic staging to
represent anti-realistic ideas because he felt that realistic ideas attracted
from production.

Appia enjoyed various angling
effects from lights as well as colors.

Craig got his ideas out by being
loud and talking about his ideas.

Gordon Craig design

Craig thought of actors as supper
puppets.

Craig believed that the perfect
actor would be a giant puppet, doing whatever it was told.

Craig used Appia’s suggestion but
went further. He designed Angels in America. (!)

Gordon Craig enjoyed the use of
electricity immensely.

Gordon Craig had the belief that
directors should have no more than one brain.

THE INDEPENDENT THEATRE MOVEMENT:

The Theatre Libre was begun by
Artadidin.

Poster for the Théâtre Libre

Artaud ran the theatre Libre and
directed Zola’s plays.

Antoine Artaud founded the Theatre
Libre

Andrw Antoine

(just in case you’ve forgotten, André
Antoine, not Artaud or my favorite Artadidin, created the Théâtre
Libre – I know we’ve already met up with Antoine in French Realism and
Naturalism, but the answers here were to questions about the Independent
Theatre Movement)

The independent theatre movement was founded by
an armature that made his living as a clerk in the Paris Gas Company.

(took me a while, but I think s/he meant “amateur” not “armature”)

The subscription sales kept the
theatre alive and the censorship was free.

The Libre Buhne, Berlin’s
Independent Theatre, produced Hauptmann’s The Wallaces --I blanked, I know this
is wrong.

(the student is trying for The
Weavers – I admire the honesty! And I like the way s/he combined the Théâtre
Libre with the Freie Bühne)

Two independent theatres were the
Theatre Lobre and the Theatre Hubre, founded by Tarza.

The Freie Buhne was created by
Brahms.

(not as far off as it may seem, by only one letter in fact – but
Otto Brahm, the founder, was not the famed Romantic composer Brahms)

The Fried Brund opened its doors
with Ghost.

The independent theatre in Germany
was the ____ Bruhe.

Grein’s Independent Theatre produced
mostly foreign plays until Windows and Houses was produced.

(the student is trying for Widower’s
Houses by Shaw)

When the Moscow Art Theatre was
instituted theatre got a big kick in the pants. Directing became a new
barrel of fish. Danchenko was all about realism.

Stanislaskily

(interesting misspelling!)

ANTON CHEKHOV

Anton Chekhov sought his birth at the
Moscow Art Theatre and he opened with the Seagull to great acclaim.

Anton Chekhov

In Anton Chekhov’s plays nothing
happens. The three sisters talk about Moscow, but don’t go to Moscow.

Chekhov wrote real life
melodramas. Examples include The Seagull and The Caucasian Chalk Circle.

(here’s hoping you’ll remember that Brecht, not Chekhov, wrote The Caucasian Chalk Circle)

ON IRISH THEATRE AND WRITERS FROM IRELAND

The Abbey Lane Theatre is the
independent theatre in Dublin.

The Abbey Theate highlighted Sygne’s
plays.

(J.M. Synge is the playwright referred to)

Caricature of G.B. Shaw

Shaw used comedic language, but not
a comedic writing style.

Shaw and Wilde wrote theatre of the
absurd. In The Importance of Being Earnest, his character Jack
continually describes situations as “absurd.” Shaw wrote about the
absurdity of Ireland, its political and social flaws.

(the first, and I hope the only time that I’ve seen The Importance
of Being Earnest classed as theatre of the absurd)

FUTURISM, DADA, SURREALISM:

(the early futurist play, “Victory over the Sun” was given several
variant titles, among them)

Staring into the Sun, Drink over the
Sun, The Victory of the Sun, A Journey to the Sun. The Capture of the Sun, The
Taking Over of the Sun, something about the Sun

Futurism was heighly flooded by
robotisism and machines.

Filippo Marinetti

(the name Filippo Marinetti, the founder of Futurism, came in for
a dizzying number of variations):

Dadaists were pacifists and
glorified war, but they were mostly interested in nonsense and irrational
stuff.

Dada followed the cubic movement of
art.

The concept of futurism was to take
a look at the future itself. It was completely off the wall. Dada
was a branch off of futurism. Surrealism was a branch off of dada.

In 1924, surrealism pooped up.

Antoin Artaud wrote the first
surrealist manifesto, about an absence of reality.

G. Artellaud was a surrealist
writer.

A major surrealist writer was John
Cockto.

Set for Cocteau's Married Couple on theEiffel Tower

Cockteau wrote Marriage of the
Eiffel Tower.

Andre Baton and Appollinary created
surrealism.

Surrealism: dreams equal life,
in non-realistic dreamlike productions, for example, The Living Dream.

Surrealism explored the dreamlike
state of mentality and can be seen quite predominantly in Bernot’s work
deftly titled La Drama Surreale.

OTHER TWENTIETH CENTURY EUROPEAN THEATRE

Biomechanics was well-oiled actors
and constructivism was the machines they acted on.

In expressionism, ideas were
expressed upside-down and backwards.

BRECHT & ARTAUD

Brecht had the belief of alienation,
an effect that distanced the audience from the situation on stage and made
them feel strange.

Bertolt Brecht

Brecht wrote epic plays that were
narratative.

Brecht used the E-form, which is
alienation or causing the audience to feel strange.

(the student is going not for the
E-form, but for the V-Effekt – for verfremdungseffekt)

Brecht did epic theatre. Even
though he was a communist he didn’t like communist plays but capitalist ones.

Brecht worked with Picasso and
gained ideas from his work.

Mother Courage uses Brecht’s device,
historical graphics.

Mother Courage has a devastating
life, but does not deal with it sobbingly.

The theatres of Brecht and Artaud
are different but the same.

Brecht and Artaud anticipate
absurdism with a sharp forshadow.

The theatre of Brecht and Artaud has
the style of almost dadaism but realism.

Antonin Artaud

Artaud focused a little more on
realism with his play, The Theatre and the Crowd.

(Artaud’s book on theatre was called The Theatre and Its Double – could that be what this student is
going for?)

Artaud’s drowning at age 10 haunted
him the rest of his life.

(This may be my personal favorite from ALL of the gaffs I’ve read!)

Artaud was emotional and had a cruel
core. His last days were spent in an asylum.

Artaud was an emotional and cruel
man who spent his last few years in an asylum.

Artaud called for an art hot enough
to ignite the sole.

An esample of Artaud is Jed of
Blood.

THEATRE OF THE ABSURD (god knows many of the answers are!):

The roots of the theatre of the absurd came from
Pirandello Jarry who questioned “What is real? What is truth?”

The theatre of the absurd was
developed from existentionalism, which stated that there was no point to the
world.

The predecessor to theatre of the
absurd was excesstentialism.

Theatre of the Absurd is indeed
absurd. Its zany predessor existentialism was a bit loopy too.
Machines were in view of the audience. The top of the curtain was exposed. It hit
the audience over the heads screaming “This is not real.”

First production ofBeckett's Waiting for Godot

Theatre of the Absurd was a very
popular form of theatre. It looked at life but it looked at it for being
ridiculous. It looked at common man and picked it apart for being so
obnocious. Edward Alpe wrote for this theatre.

Theatre of the absurd use illogical
techiniques, characters and language are futile. The plays move in a
circle. Existential plays do not move in a circle. They end up in a new
place. Playwrights were Beckett, Inesco and Pinter. Later there
were more. Gene wrote The Balcony and Alby wrote Zoo Story.

Ionesco and Godot are two of the
Theatre of the Absurd’s main contributors.

Another absurd writer was
Ioconilesto.

An important play by Ionesco is the
Bold Soprano.

Original cast of Ionesco'sThe Bald (not Bold) Soprano

A writer of the absurd was Jean
Gannet.

Jean Manet wrote The Maids.

Jean Benet wrote theatre of the
absurd.

Brechet is most known for his theatre
of the absurd.

Samuel Beckett wrote Waiting for
Gotto.

None of Becket’s, Ionesco’s or
Genet’s plays made any sense, but all three were catapulted into fame.

In the 1970’s, inspired by absurdist work Artuad
and Brecht continued to write non-traditional theatre that used the same
concepts but introduced modern ideas and themes.

(a bit tricky as Artaud and Brecht were both dead in the 1970s)

The theatre of the absurd broke all
the rules of theatre...on purpose!

The theatre of the absurd seems very
disorganized.

Fiona Shaw in Happy Days

The plot goes in circles, the viewer cannot relate to the
place or time or even to the characters. For example, in Happy Days
Winnie rambles on about toothpaste, etc. In addition she’s buried up to
her waist in sand. See how it’s hard to relate too! Will she ever get out
of the sand?

Absurd plays were all very silly,
but often went to extremes to prove a point about society.

Absurdist theatre was based on
philosophy, non-sensical events and non-logical or legitimate events.

The Theatre of the Absurd was
another reaction to the stupidity of war. Its ideas and its most famous
writer, Brekt, wanted theatre to be “a shock treatment for the audience.” He
wanted to drench the audience in emotion. This theatre took its roots
from existentialist drama in that it was meant to scare people or start to make
them think.

Theatre of the absurd is a wonderful
period of works, yet this would not be the kind of play to take your brother or
sister who gets antsy at a “normal” play or musical.

TWENTIETH CENTURY AMERICAN THEATRE

A woman by the name of Friske
challenged the theatrical syndicate.

Minnie Maddern Fiske

A woman named Minnie opposed the
Syndicate.

Minnie Friske

Mme Frisk challenged the Sydicate.

(all of the above refer to Minnie Maddern Fiske, an actress who
did indeed challenge the syndicate)

The Shoebrut family stopped the
Syndicate

(s/he’s going for the Shubert family here)

With the free expense of radio and
the introduction of the first talking picture, audiences began to ween and
vaudeville houses began to suffer for it.

THE NEW STAGECRAFT:

Robert Edmund Jones was the
head-honcho of new stagecraft. He tackled unrealistic designs in this
form, which created some serious spectacle.

The new stagecraft was introduced by
a man named Edward Raman John. (???)

Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream was done in a white box. This rise of
the absurd inspired many others.

(while Peter Brook’s 1870 staging of Midsummer would not seem to
belong here, the statement was part of an essay on the New Stagecraft)

THE FEDERAL THEATRE PROJECT:

The FTP was designed with a fabulous
cause in mind. It revitalized the theatre after WWII, when everthing
was dead.

The Group Theatre was a group of
Russian socialists who came to the US to teach Stanislavsky’s methods.

Stanislavsky influenced the Group
Theatre. America was in the depression and was at a loss of capitalism and
looked to Russia.

The Group Theatre taught
Stanislavsky’s technique of working inside out.

The Group Theatre was very
left-winged, politically.

The Group Theatre attempted to
transcend social commitment.

A FEW COMMENTS ON THE MUSICAL:

The Golden Age of the American
Musical seems to me like a result of theatre of the absurd. By this I
mean absurd theatre dealt with the re-writings of plays. Musicals were
re-written older plays and novels.

(yes…and…???)

Oaklahoma. (one student’s spelling of the famous musical)

Rodgers and Hammerstein also wrote
other musicals, such as Carousel, King and I, and Streetcar Named Desire.

So, what can we gleam from all this information
on the American musical?

Oscar Wilde and Tennessee Williams
were two famous playwrights after WW II. I can’t think of the third.

(well, two out of three…sorry, make that ONE out of three…ain’t
bad)

August Wilson wrote Death of a Salesman.

Tennessee Williams wrote Death of a Salesman.

Tennessee Williams wrote Cat on Hot Tin.

Neil Simon wrote The Odd Coupe.

Eugene O’Neill wrote The Odd Couple.

This is an odd (well, old) coupe

And this is The Odd Couple(original cast, Walter Mathau and Art Carney)

Neil Simon wrote Blithe Spirit.

Edward Albee wrote absubist
one-acts.

David Mamet wrote plays like American Buffalo and Tate’s Last Tape.

ON OFF BROADWAY, REGIONAL THEATRE, & OFF-OFF BROADWAY:

When Broadway got too tame,
Off-Broadway popped up.

After the 50s Broadway started to
move to the outskirts of New York City, as well as all over the country.

In the early 1950s alternatives to
Broadway began to arouse. These theatres arouse as a form of anti-establishment
and expressionism.

In the 1950s theatres began to
appear that were not Broadway. One of these was Off-Broadway.

Original cast of theOff-Broadway musicalThe Fantasticks

The Fantasticks, an off-Broadway show, opened and did not know
it would run for 40 plus years.

There is also regional
theatre. This is any theatre outside New York City that has a deal with
LORT. For example the Margot Jones Theatre, named for her after she
pasted away. She would never have named it after herself.

In 1958, CBS thought they could fire
Papp after he pleaded the 5th degree at a House Committee on Un-American
Activities.

The Off-Off-Broadway theatres
included Cafe La Mama and the Theatre Libre.

The Living Theater was extremely
realistic. They once used an actual drug addict for a production.

TWENTIETH CENTURY WORLD THEATRE

In Brazil, Boal was a famous
director. He was primarily involved in major theatre movements and helped gorilla
theatre.

A STUDENT’S SUMMATION:

If everyone saw a
little theatre, actors and jocks and business men and women alike, the world would
definitely be a happier place. To see that theatre exploded, grew, shrunk,
struggled, grew again, exploded again, and flew is wonderful. Theatre must
continue to fly.